Review

Review Summary: Sabbath make an unexpected second good album with Tony Martin, although it would also be their last acceptable record.

Ever since the late 80's, it was dead clear that Black Sabbath were missing more than they hit. Records such as Headless Cross and Tyr, both recorded with their second-longest-lasting vocalist Tony Martin, were close to being abominations, and the band had strayed far from their amazing compositions in the 70's with Ozzy Osbourne and early 80's with the late Ronnie James Dio. The Eternal Idol, the first album Sabbath did with Martin, however, proved to be quite enjoyable, and 1994's Cross Purposes is really the only Martin-led album that can stand on a similar level.

That said, Cross Purposes is still pretty hit-and-miss. The return of Geezer Butler with the group's preceding album Dehumanizer certainly helps, as the man is one of the most easily distinguishable and influential heavy metal bassists of all time. He provides highlights such as Imacculate Deception and Psychophobia with the basis that Sabbath so gravely missed, and similarly to their previous album, Sabbath sound positively heavy again. They sound like Black Sabbath again.

Though Butler's return was more than welcome, and seasoned Sabbath fan knows the group lives or dies by Tony Iommi's abilities on the guitar. The man has lost the originality factor of the early 70's, but he still handles things they should be handled on this album. Truth be told, some of the riffs are nothing noteworthy, but it's an huge relief to hear how badass I Witness sounds.

But you'll be asking yourselves: does this make Cross Purposes a worthy get? No, not really. The Sabbath fans on the more hardcore side of the fence will like this quite a bit, and it's also the last decent album Iommi and company managed to put out, but any critical music lover will come back to the same conclusion again and again: Sabbath burnt out right after Mob Rules, and that was it. You'll find some material of enjoyable quality in the Martin-era, but you certainly will never be amazed.

The only songs I truly enjoyed were "Virtual Death", "Immaculate Deception" and "Dying for Love". Everything else is either average work or recycled ideas. "Evil Eye" is also enjoyable, but the main riff is very similar to the song Country Girl.

Great album, although I still can't quite get into Martin's vocals, even though I will admit that he sounds better on here than he did on 'Tyr'. The musicianship is very well done in my opinion, Iommi's riffs proving as mighty as ever.

This is probably one of their better albums with Tony Martin not to mention better songs like virtual death and evil eye.However the rest of the album is a little bit once again on the mediocre/generic side of things.